South Korean soldiers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant on the street to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a residential area in Seoul on March 9, 2020.
Jung Yeon-Je | AFP | Getty Images
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- Global cases: At least 113,851, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization
- Global deaths: At least 4,015, according to the latest figures from the WHO
All times below are in Beijing time.
8:35 am: FDA suspends foreign food and drug inspections
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will suspend most foreign inspections for food, drug and medical devices outside the country through April as the coronavirus outbreak spreads across America, the agency announced.
“We are aware of how this action may impact other FDA responsibilities, including product application reviews,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement. “We will be vigilant and monitor the situation very closely and will try to mitigate potential impacts from this outbreak in lockstep with the whole of the federal government.”
Still, inspections outside the U.S. deemed “mission-critical” will be considered on a case-by-case basis, the FDA said. — Higgins-Dunn
7:50 am: Australia announces A$2.4 billion health plan to tackle outbreak
The Australian government announced a 2.4 billion Australian dollar ($1.56 billion) health package that would provide “unprecedented” support across primary care, aged care, hospitals, research and the national medical stockpile. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government is making sure the country has all of the resources it needs to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
“Australia isn’t immune but with this (A)$2.4 billion boost we’re as well prepared as any country in the world,” he said in a statement, adding, “This package is about preventing and treating coronavirus in the coming weeks.” — Roy Choudhury
7:18 am: UK minister tests positive
A health minister and Conservative member of parliament, Nadine Dorries, said she tested positive for the coronavirus. Dorries added that as soon as she had received the news, she took all of the advised precautions and had been self-isolating at home, the BBC reported. Later, she said on Twitter that her 84-year-old mother, who is staying with her, began showing some early symptoms and would be tested for the virus on Wednesday.
The Times reported that Dorries met hundreds of people in Parliament in the past week and attended a reception with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. — Roy Choudhury
7:11 am: Popular California music festival Coachella postponed
Organizers for the popular music festival Coachella said they have postponed the event from April to October, in line with direction from local health authorities. The number of confirmed cases of the disease in the United States topped 800, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. — Roy Choudhury
7:02 am: Turkey confirms first case
Turkey’s health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said test results of a citizen suspected to have COVID-19 returned positive, marking the first case in the country, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. It added that the patient has been isolated and is in a generally good condition; his family members and people he might have come into close contact with are under surveillance, the minister said, according to the agency.
The infection has now spread to more than 100 countries and infected at least 113,000 people, per the latest data from the World Health Organization. — Roy Choudhury
Government workers walk out of Jianghan Fangcang temporary hospital for COVID-19 patients, which is being shut down, in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province Monday, March 09, 2020. As the number of patients drops, the city has begun closing the temporary hospitals built to treat patients with the coronavirus.
Feature China | Barcroft Media | Getty Images
All times below are in Eastern time.
5:57 pm: Google bans all ads for medical face masks amid coronavirus outbreak
Google is temporarily banning ads for medical face masks, which have proliferated online as the coronavirus spreads.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to temporarily ban all medical face mask ads,” a Google spokeswoman said in an email to CNBC. “We’re actively monitoring the situation and will continue to take action as needed to protect users.”
The restriction only applies to face masks for now, and does not apply to ads for other products that could protect against the outbreak, like hazmat suits and sanitizers, which have also proliferated in recent weeks. Google said it is “continuing to evaluate” whether the ban should apply to other products, and said will take a “few days” to take down existing mask ads, meaning users are likely to still see them in the coming days. Google is temporarily banning ads for medical face masks, which have proliferated online as the coronavirus spreads. — Elias, Graham
